Bergamo-style casoncelli are egg-pasta ravioli stuffed with meat, with a sweet-and-sour touch from raisins and amaretti, dressed with melted butter, crispy pancetta and sage. They are the signature dish of Bergamo cuisine: the one every family in the province makes for festive occasions, each with its own small variations passed down through generations.
This is the traditional recipe, with quantities and method verified. It’s part of our guide to traditional Bergamo recipes, where you’ll also find the other signature dishes of the territory.
Ingredients for 3-4 people
For the egg pasta:
- 300 g soft wheat flour ’00
- 3 large whole eggs
- 1 pinch of salt
For the filling:
- 100 g ground pork (salami-grade)
- 100 g ground veal
- 80 g grated grana cheese
- 8 g amaretti biscuits
- 2 tablespoons sultana raisins
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
- 1 egg
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- 1 clove of garlic (optional)
- breadcrumbs, as needed
- salt
For the dressing:
- 50 g butter
- 100 g pancetta, in strips or thin slices
- 100 g grated Grana cheese
- fresh sage leaves
Method
- Make the pasta sheet: knead flour, eggs and a pinch of salt into a smooth, elastic dough. Roll it out thin with a rolling pin or pasta machine.
- Make the filling: in a bowl, mix the two ground meats with the egg, chopped parsley, salt and nutmeg. Add the grated grana cheese and the finely crumbled amaretti.
- Add the aromatics: fold in the grated lemon zest and the raisins, previously soaked in warm water and squeezed dry. Add a tablespoon of breadcrumbs to get a soft but firm mixture.
- Shape the casoncelli: place a teaspoon of filling on strips of pasta cut into circles, fold into half-moons and press lightly in the centre to seal the edges well.
- Let them rest: lay the casoncelli on a flour-dusted surface and let them rest at room temperature for 2-3 hours before cooking.
- Cook: drop them into plenty of boiling salted water and drain them once they float to the surface, after about 4 minutes.
- Dress: drain them straight into a pan with melted butter, toss with sage and grated grana cheese. Serve with the pancetta, browned beforehand until crisp.
Prep time: 40 minutes · Cook time: 5 minutes · Total time: 45 minutes (plus 2-3 hours resting time for the dough)
Why the filling is sweet-and-sour
The raisins and amaretti in the meat filling are what sets casoncelli apart from any other stuffed pasta in Italy. It’s not a random addition: it reflects a culinary tradition of Renaissance origin, when the line between sweet and savoury in main courses was far less rigid than it is today. It’s the same principle found, in different forms, in other historic Lombard recipes.
The most common variations
There’s no single “official” casoncelli recipe: every valley, every family, has its own proportions. The most common variations concern the type of meat (some recipes use only beef, others add sausage), the amount of raisins and amaretti, and whether or not garlic goes into the filling. Even the shape changes slightly from area to area, though it always stays true to the half-moon.
Frequently asked questions about Bergamo Casoncelli
What’s the difference between Bergamo and Brescia Casoncelli?
They are related recipes but not identical: the Brescia version tends to have a filling richer in herbs and a slightly different dressing. The Bergamo version is the one with the more pronounced sweet-and-sour touch of amaretti and raisins.
Can Casoncelli be frozen?
Yes. Once shaped, before cooking, they can be laid out on a floured tray without touching each other, frozen that way, and then transferred to a bag. They can be cooked directly from frozen, adding a little extra cooking time.
What do Casoncelli traditionally pair with?
The traditional dressing is melted butter, crispy pancetta, sage and grated grana cheese: a deliberately simple dressing, designed not to cover up the flavour of the sweet-and-sour filling.
Come and taste real Casoncelli
At Bigio, Casoncelli are one of our restaurant’s staple dishes, prepared following the family recipe with zero-kilometre ingredients from Brembana Valley.
Get in touch and come try them — we’ll be waiting for you at the table.
